Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney shared his government’s message of grief and hope Wednesday in the aftermath of the mass shooting incident in a remote B.C. town that killed nine people and injured dozens more.
Speaking in the House of Commons, Carney said the horrific event has left the nation in shock.
The prime minister thanked the many first responders and RCMP officers who entered Tumbler Ridge Secondary School without hesitation, “not knowing what awaited them.”
He also thanked the school staff and teachers “who acted with extraordinary courage to protect the children in their care.”
“In the darkest of moments, they showed the best of our country.”
“Tumbler Ridge is a community of some 2,400 people nestled in the foothills of the Rockies. It is one of the youngest towns in the great province of British Columbia. It was carved out of the wilderness in the 1980s, built on the promise of the resource economy and by the determination of its residents,” said Carney.
“It’s a town of miners, teachers, construction workers, families who have built their lives there, people who have always shown up for each other there. When wildfires raged, neighbours helped each other pack up and move out of harm’s way, they checked in on seniors and those living alone. They made sure that no one was left behind. When the coal mine shut down, residents supported local businesses. They shared leads for jobs, and they lifted each other up.”
He said federal officials are in contact with B.C. Premier David Eby and other local counterparts to coordinate Canada’s response.
“In the days ahead, there’ll be important questions to ask, difficult conversations to have. We owe that to the victims and their families, but now it’s time for grieving and remembrance. Now is for the people of Tumbler Ridge and the Peace River Region for a community that is enduring the unimaginable.”
He added that the country is mourning with them.
“To the students, the teachers, the parents, every resident of Tumbler Ridge: all of Canada stands with you. May the memories of those lost be a blessing. May this community, which has shown its resilience so many times before, once again, find the strength to heal. And may this house prove worthy of what Tumbler Ridge has always been by striving to make Canada a better, kinder and safer place.”
After Carney, federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre addressed Parliament.
Poilievre says he can not imagine the heartache some parents in Tumbler Ridge are going through now.
“As fathers, we both know the feeling of sending our kids to school, hoping that they’ll play and perform, laugh and learn, but most of all, come home to us and our loving arms at night,” he said across the aisle, toward Carney.
“No parent should ever have to fear that their child will not return home from school.”
Poilievre recalls the moment when MP Bob Zimmer, a member of the Conservative caucus, called him to tell him about what had happened.
“Children who should have been thinking about homework and hockey, were instead thrown into terror, grief and unbearable uncertainty.”
“Nine lives were stolen. 25 injured. Nine families are devastated in an entire community in grief.”
He says that the rural community represent the best of Canada.
“A community of miners and loggers, hard-working people. The kind of people who fight their own battles but never hesitate to help a neighbour in need,” Poilievre said.
He addressed the students who witnessed the shooting directly, saying that he can not even imagine the horror they witnessed and that the world is thinking of them.
Poilievre also thanked first responders, saying that “all of us owe a permanent debt of gratitude.”
He is calling on Canada to unite over the tragedy and to support the affected families and the community.
Yves-François Blanchet from the Bloc Québécois also addressed his colleagues in Parliament, speaking partly in English.
“On behalf of the Bloc Québécois, and here I presume I can speak for the entire Quebec nation, I offer my condolences to the families of the nine victims and all our solidarity to the families of the 25 people injured and the community of Tumbler Ridge as a whole,” he said.
NDP interim Leader Don Davies says no words can possibly fill the void the families and the Tumbler Ridge community are experiencing, but he hopes they can feel the embrace of a nation that “stands with you that stands with you in your grief today, tomorrow, and in all the difficult days ahead.”
Elizabeth May, the leader of the Green Party, says that individual members of Parliament will try to alleviate the pain and the suffering and the grief of the people affected.
“We are all one in the human family,” May said.
